The Great Plan for the Transformation of Nature, also known as Stalin's plan for the transformation of nature, was proposed by Joseph Stalin in the Soviet Union in the second half of the 1940s, for

land development Land development is the alteration of landscape in any number of ways such as: * Changing landforms from a natural or semi-natural state for a purpose such as agriculture or housing * Subdividing real estate into lots, typically for the purpose ...

, agricultural practices and water projects to improve agriculture in the nation. Its

propaganda Propaganda is communication that is primarily used to influence or persuade an audience to further an agenda, which may not be objective and may be selectively presenting facts to encourage a particular synthesis or perception, or using loaded ...

motto and catchphrase was "the great transformation of nature" (, ''velikoye preobrazovaniye prirody''). The plan was outlined in the Decree of the USSR Council of Ministers and

All-Union Communist Party (Bolsheviks) "Hymn of the Bolshevik Party" , headquarters = 4 Staraya Square, Moscow , general_secretary = Vladimir Lenin (first) Mikhail Gorbachev (last) , founded = , banned = , founder = Vladimir Lenin , newspaper ...

Central Committee Central committee is the common designation of a standing administrative body of Communist party, communist parties, analogous to a board of directors, of both ruling and nonruling parties of former and existing socialist states. In such party org ...

of October 20, 1948: "On the plan for planting of

shelterbelt A windbreak (shelterbelt) is a planting usually made up of one or more rows of trees or shrubs planted in such a manner as to provide shelter from the wind and to protect soil from erosion. They are commonly planted in hedgerows around the edges ...

s, introduction of grassland crop rotation and construction of ponds and reservoirs to ensure high sustainable crop yields in

steppe In physical geography, a steppe () is an ecoregion characterized by grassland plains without trees apart from those near rivers and lakes. Steppe biomes may include: * the montane grasslands and shrublands biome * the temperate grasslands, ...

and forest-steppe areas of the European USSR." It was a response to the widespread 1946 drought and subsequent 1947 famine, which led to estimated deaths of 500,000–1 million people."National Shelterbelt": To 60th anniversary of Stalin's plan of the transformation of nature
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Major projects

A network of irrigation canals was built in the

steppe belt A steppe belt is a contiguous phytogeographic region of predominantly grassland (steppe), which has common characteristics in soil, climate, vegetation and fauna. A forest-steppe belt is a region of forest steppe. The largest steppe and (forest-s ...

of the southern Soviet Union, and in the deserts of Central Asia. A project was proposed to plant trees in a gigantic network of

s or windbreaks (, ''lesopolosa'', "forest strip") across the

s of the southern Soviet Union, similar to what had been done in the northern plains of the United States in the 1930s following drought and the extensive damage of the Dust Bowl years. The idea was that planting windbreaks around rivers of southern Russia and around collective farms would supposedly stop the drying winds from Central Asia that were thought to have caused the drought. The actions were surrounded by a great deal of propaganda which included a patriotic oratoria, the

Song of the Forests The ''Song of the Forests'' (''Песнь о лесах''), Op. 81, is an oratorio by Dmitri Shostakovich composed in the summer of 1949. It was written to celebrate the forestation of the Russian steppes (Great Plan for the Transformation of Nat ...

, composed by

Dmitri Shostakovich Dmitri Dmitriyevich Shostakovich, , group=n (9 August 1975) was a Soviet-era Russian composer and pianist who became internationally known after the premiere of his Symphony No. 1 (Shostakovich), First Symphony in 1926 and was regarded throug ...

. The plan was to be overseen by the ''Glavnoe Upravlenie Polezashchitnogo Lesorazvedeniya'' (GUPL) ("Main Directorate of Field-Protective Forestry") which came under a scientific technical committee that included Trofim Lysenko. Lysenko claimed that he was an expert on planting trees in "nests" - where members of the same species helped each other. He planted at high densities and claimed that plants underwent "self-thinning" working together against weeds in the early stages and then some plants would sacrifice themselves for the main plant. He further suggested that an oak seedling at the center would have four seeds around them in a plus pattern. One ecologist and opponent of Lysenko, Vladimir N. Sukachev recorded that by September 1951, 100% of the trees planted using the "nest method" in the Ural territories had died. Despite Lysenko's critics, modern scientific research suggests that the cluster method can be used effectively, and is currently being used in many countries. Although the plan achieved none of its stated goals, some collective farms surrounded by plantations produced better yields due to improved water storage. The Soviet government launched a number of extensive projects in

land improvement Land development is the alteration of landscape in any number of ways such as: * Changing landforms from a natural or semi-natural state for a purpose such as agriculture or House, housing * subdivision (land), Subdividing real estate into Lot (re ...

, hydroengineering for water control, irrigation and power, and in supporting areas. Planned for completion in 1965, the projects were mostly abandoned after the death of Stalin in 1953.

References

{{Joseph Stalin Economic history of the Soviet Union Environment of Russia Environment of the Soviet Union Joseph Stalin Soviet phraseology 1948 in the Soviet Union 1948 in the environment Proposals in the Soviet Union

Major projects

See also

References